1. How do I get to the Search screen?
2. How do I use the Search form?
   1. What can I search for in the Search form?
   2. What types of search can I use in the Search form?
   3. What is a Daitch-Mokotoff search?
   4. Can I sort the results of my search?
3. Can you explain the results table to me?
4. How do I use the Family Display page?
   1. How do I contact the submitter of a family tree I'm interested in?
5. How accurate is the information in the FTJP?
6. Is everyone listed in the FTJP Jewish?

III. 1.   How do I get to the Search screen?

Go to the Family Tree of the Jewish People web page at https://www.jewishgen.org/gedcom.  Read the disclaimer information, then scroll down to the bottom of the page, and pres the "I ACCEPT and wish to SEARCH the database" button.

You will then be prompted to logon with your email address and Password, if you aren't already logged on.

You will then be taken to the FTJP's Search form.

III. 2.   How do I use the Search Form?

You fill in the boxes to search for an individual or individuals, using options as appropriate (explained in Question 2.1 below), and then click on the "Search" button. These searches are not case sensitive.

This is what the Search Form looks like:

After you press the "Search" button, you are presented with the results, in a table.  A detailed explanation of the results table is in Question 4.

III. 2.1.   What can I search for in the Search Form?

There are several different options available in the Search Form. You can search for everyone with a particular surname, search for an individual with a particular surname and given name, search for everyone with a particular surname in a town, or search for everyone in a particular town.

You can search for any combination of surname, given name, and town.

III. 2.2.   What types of search can I use on the search form?

When you click on the drop-down list, you will see the options that you may use for searching the database.

For each of these (surname, given name, and town) you have six search choices a to how a match is to be made. The search does not primarily work by matching spelling. Instead, it primarily works by matching the sounds of the letters used, often in the most likely language.

The choices are

• Phonetic - Looking at the word you enter, what are the most likely ways to pronounce that and what matches can we find from that?
• DM Soundex - This is based on calculating a Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex value for the search word and matching that against the soundex values we have for names we have on file. See Question 2.3, below.
• Exact - This is the only exact spelling match search. Only use if you are extremely confident of the spelling of the name you are looking for as the person building the tree would have recorded it.
• Fuzzy - Looser spelling
• Fuzzier - Still looser, will give more false positives
• Fuzziest - The loosest, will give even more false positives but maybe what you are looking for

III. 2.3.   What is a Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex Search?

The Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex search was developed to account for the highly variable spelling of Jewish names. The D-M Soundex system accomodates sounds created by Eastern European languages such as Polish and Yiddish.

Here's the general idea. When I look for my ancestor's name - "Shenofsky" - I must recognize that "Shenofsky" might not have been their name in the old country. It may have been "Chernowski", "Chernik", "Sharnowsky", etc. Likewise, for a family which currently spells their surname as "Zendle", the ship's clerk who wrote the manifest for the SS Baltic in 1909 wrote the name as "Zendel".

Soundex systems are not perfect. There are some inconsistencies. You might not find Kane when looking for Cohen for example - so carry on using your brains, intuition, and creativity.

If you want to know more about how Soundex works you can read our simple explanation and/or our technical explanation.

III. 2.4.   Can I sort the results of my search?

No. At this time this is not an option.

III. 3.   Can you explain the Results Table to me?

Whichever method you used to search for individuals, the results will be presented in the form of a table. You can then click on any underlined names to get to additional information in the FTJP about that individual (the Family Display Page).

Here's some sample data from one of those results tables.

There are a few things to note here:

1. No personal details (given name, birth dates, etc.) are displayed for living individuals. (See our FTJP privacy provisions).

2. There are symbols to the left of each individual which signify whether they have ancestors and/or descendants linked in the FTJP, thus:

   	Has ancestor(s)
   	Has descendant(s)
   	Has both ancestor(s) and descendant(s)

3. Those individuals submitted by the researcher who carried out the search are highlighted in purple.

When you click on a name, you are taken into a Family Display Page, which opens up in a separate browser window. The Family Display Page shows two generations of direct ancestors of the selected individual, their spouse(s), and any children -- four generations total. See the next question for information about the Family Display Page.

III. 4.   How do I use the Family Display page?

Here is a representation of what you might find for an individual named Abraham Anthonie Cohen:

In the above example, Abraham is in the middle, with ancestors to the right and decendents to the left.

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Note that you can not click on the browser's "Back" button to go back to the Search Form, because the Family Display page opens in a separate browser window.

If you have your browser's window maximized, you will not see the two separate windows — they'll be on top of each other, one obscuring the other. The solution is to make your browser's window slightly smaller than your screen size, so that you'll be able to see both windows, and easily switch back and forth between them.

III. 4.1.   How do I contact the submitter of the family tree I'm interested in?

At the top of the Family Display screen, there is a button which enables you to contact the submitter of the GEDCOM file that contains the family which is being displayed.  If you click on the button "Click here to Contact the Submitter" at the top of the page, you will be presented with a fill-in form, which looks like:

You fill in the the form, and then click on the "Send my message" button.  Please write a complete comprehensive message which will enable the submitter to understand your context and your interest in this family tree.  An e-mail message will be sent to the submitter with the details that you entered in the form.  It is then up to the submitter to reply to you if he or she wishes.

III. 5.   How accurate is the information in the FTJP?

The information in the FTJP is only as accurate as the data submitted by various genealogists around the world. JewishGen performs no validation of the data submitted to it. (See disclaimer).

The FTJP is remarkable research tool for conducting family research. But like any tool, it has to be recognized that the information it contains is far from perfect and in fact, can often be incorrect and lead researchers down the wrong path. The FTJP's information is supplied by the thousands of researchers who contribute, but there is no control over what is input and no oversight as to accuracy. It is your responsibility to verify and validate any fact presented.

As part of adding any information to your family tree, if you use a FTJP tree be sure to cite your sources so you can trace back later should you need to confirm or verify facts you've collected.

III. 6.   Is everyone listed in the FTJP Jewish?

Family members included on submitted trees need not be Jewish by birth, ancestry, or cultural upbringing. As the data is provided by the members, the inclusion of a person generally means they’re related but is not a statement of whether or how religiously Jewish that person was.

Therefore, the Family Tree of the Jewish People certainly includes individuals who were not Jewish. Again, presence on a tree should not be interpreted as an indication that the person listed was or was not Jewish.

Authors: Warren Blatt, Michael Tobias, Carol Skydell, Iris Folkson, Susan King, Tony Zendle, Gary Sandler.
Version 3.00   Last Updated: August 29, 2024   GS